like a phoenix (we didn't need your ashes to rise above)
by Someone aka Me
Summary: The first Weasley Christmas after the war, they all know something is missing.


Assignment: Arts and Crafts: 2: Knitting: Write about someone receiving a Weasley jumper (someone who we don't see actually get one, and no other Weasleys, inc. canon marriages and children to Weasleys).

* * *

Oliver steps into the Burrow at Percy's side and inhales the scent of home.

It's been three years, a war, and too many deaths to count since he's crossed that doorstep

Molly Weasley hugs him tightly and says, "We're so glad you could make it."

Arthur Weasley gives him a pleasant smile and nods, holding out a hand to shake.

Oliver takes it with a smile of his own. Percy vanishes into the yard to check on his little sister while Oliver hugs George in a silent hello. He knows there are no words.

Charlie pops out of the kitchen and Oliver hugs him as well. He hasn't seen Charlie since he went off to Romania, but Charlie was his first seeker and a great friend.

"You've gotten bigger!" Charlie tells him when he pulls away. "That's not what I expected to happen," he says with a laugh. Oliver grins back at the shortest of the Weasley brothers.

"That's because you haven't," he says.

Charlie's grin is lopsided, darker than it used to be but still oh-so-familiar.

"We're still waiting for Ron," he says. "He went to pick up Harry, but he should be back soon. Mum's got cinnamon rolls on the table if you want some, and presents go under the tree in here. Did Perce leave you to carry everything?"

Oliver shrugs. "He did that tunnel-vision thing where he was focused on seeing Ginny and, to be honest, I think he forgot the presents existed."

Charlie tips his head. "Why Ginny?"

Oliver bites his lip. "He didn't say. He got an owl from her yesterday, though."

Charlie looks vaguely contemplative for a moment before shaking it off. "She'll tell us if she needs to," he says, and then takes half the presents from Oliver's arms and leads the way to the towering evergreen in the living room.

Oliver sets the presents down and by the time he's picked up a pair of cinnamon rolls on a plate and settled into a spot on the couch, Percy comes in from the cold and sits beside him. Wordlessly, Oliver offers him the plate. Percy smiles at him fondly.

"Everything okay?" Oliver asks.

Percy hesitates, and then says, "It will be."

Molly bustles into the room and deposits a plate of at gingerbread biscuits and cut outs shaped like trees and stars, iced in all colours. Next to it, she sets a bowl of sweets.

"Ron and Harry have just arrived, so it'll just be a few," she says.

"It's fine, Mrs. Weasley. Don't worry about it. Have you had a seat yet this morning?"

"Oh, you're too sweet, dear. I'll sit in a moment."

And in a minute, she does, and the chaos of eleven people opening presents and trying to maintain some semblance of order erupts. Oliver watches with a smile, Percy squashed into his side as four people fit on the loveseat — Oliver, Percy, Ron, and Harry.

He misses his parents sometimes, especially over the holidays, but the Weasleys have always felt like home, since long before he started dating Percy.

Charlie leans over from his chair and offers him a parcel and Oliver grins, even as he says, "You didn't have to get me anything."

Charlie grins back. "I know. But I did, because I'm awesome.'

Oliver tips his head and concedes the point. "Fair enough." It's not like he and Percy didn't get Charlie a joint gift anyway — a tiny, animated model dragon for Charlie's apartment.

He turns his attention to the parcel. It looks as though a five year old wrapped it. It's bright turquoise, lurid and terrifying.

Percy glances at it and laughs so hard he has to push his glasses back up his face when he's done.

"Twenty five years old and you still can't wrap a present, huh, Charlie?"

Charlie tips his head back and laughs. Ron turns his head toward them as Charlie laughs, and grins at the sight of his older brother.

And then everything stops when Molly passes out a series of lumpy, moderately sized packages. George clutches his tightly, looking like he might cry. Harry's hands run lightly over the paper, smoothing out the wrinkles. Charlie handles his like a baby dragon, like it might burst into flame and must be treated with tenderness. Percy clutches the wrapping paper like a dying man.

And then she hands one to Oliver.

Oliver knows what is inside. He's watched Percy get one every year they shared a dorm. He vividly remembers eleven-year-old Percy pulling a dark green jumper over his head and then running off to find his older brothers, who were wearing identical ones.

He watched Percy decide he was too old for family sweaters, yet when he brothers came by and forced him into it, there was no real protest there. Percy hates his brothers some days, but he loves them every day.

He remembers one year, the twins sitting in the common room wearing theirs. It took Oliver almost three hours to realize they'd switched them. He thinks he's one of the few that noticed at all.

He looks at the way George is curled around the paper, the way Percy's knuckles are white with the force of his grip, and Oliver thinks, _this is how we learn to live again_.

He thinks about rising again from the ashes, about learning from death.

He thinks it's all bullshit.

They shouldn't have lost Fred.

They lost Fred because a maniac thought he deserved to live forever.

It isn't fair. It isn't right. And it's not going to fucking _make them stronger_.

All it does is make them wounded, broken people.

Wounded, broken people who band together, because they can do nothing else.

They all open them at once. Oliver's is a hand knitted brilliant blue, the O on the front bright and clear.

He doesn't mean to cry, but he can't stop the tears. He knows it for the invitation that it is — the official welcome to the Weasley family.

He gets up and delicately picks his way over to Molly, who is standing by the tree, surveying her family.

He hugs her fiercely.

"Thank you," he says.

"You're part of the family, love." Molly's voice is thin and trembling and Oliver clutches at her back, jumper dangling from one fist.

"Thank you," he says again.

Maybe they're all a little broken, but at least they have each other.

* * *

Auction Challenge: prompt: "I'm awesome" words: 1071

Couple Appreciation: Attention

Pinata: Angst

Film Festival: Word: Sweets

April Writing Month: 1071

Gobstones: Orange - Celebration Accuracy: (character) George Weasley Power: "I'm awesome" Technique: (color) Turquoise

Scavenger Hunt: 4. Write a fic about one of the Weasley twins.

Character Appreciation: 34. Location: The Burrow (5 bonus for george) / Disney: S4: Mother's Intuition - Write about a Mother / Amber's Attic: 10. How many wars will it take us to learn that only the dead return? (5 bonus points) / Book Club: Media: (word) pleasant, (plot point) waiting for someone, (word) offer, / Showtime: 11. Entr'acte/Marilyn Monroe 2 Alt. write a family fic. / Buttons: C1: Harry Potter / Lyric Alley: 24. You know I get so attached / AAA: 20. #RedRumRoses - Word: Invitation / Lo's Lowdown: Style: write an ensemble fic (more than four major characters)

Easter Bingo: 24. dialogue: "that's not what I expected to happen"

Guess the Name; 27. Elmo - Ron

365: 192. Location - The Burrow

Insane house: Percy/Oliver


End file.
